Kid in a Candy Store
by Agent Frostbite
Summary: Tony meets Knock Out for the first time. The result was surprisingly predictable. Inspired by KHandFF7fanforever.


**A/N: {Thus follows the A/N posted on the update of Triggers, an Avengers short story.}  
**

 ***rises from beneath a layer of smoke and fog close to the ground, arms locked straight like a zombie...basically Mushu's wake-up scene from Mulan* I LIVE! *looks around at crowd of people staring at me* Okay, so I _may_ have some explaining to do.**

 **Lemme start out with THIS IS MY FAULT BECAUSE I HAVE A SHODDY MEMORY. Seriously. Sometimes I forget I even have this site. (In my desperation for some good Fem!Bilbo/Thorin fics, I turned to Archive of Our Own- *collective gasp of shock* I know, I know. I actually broke my routine. Weird, right?)**

 **Anyway, it kinda went downhill from there. It got exponentially worse when I discovered the magical (pun intended) world of UNDERTALE. And then rapidly fell down the hole into Mt. Ebott and haven't actually fully emerged yet and may never do so. Basically, I've been pinging back and forth between Erebor and Ebott for the past few months, with occasional side-trips to other fandoms. Whoops.  
**

 **But THEN my sister told me she was gonna link my page to her account bio on Wattpad (That_Lovely_Potato, Ellie_Phillips; look for the Multi-fandom Imagines book, she's close to the top spot), AND I'd been saying I was gonna go through and edit, like 85% of my previously written stories (I got a new laptop a few months ago - holla! - and have WordOffice instead of WordPad, and the former has a bigger screen/layout/space/whatever than the latter (in the form I like it in), and if I edit something _I_ have in my personal library, then I have to post the updated version _here_ , and...yeah, you get the picture.**

 **So! Down to the nitty-gritty. Firstly, I won't promise I'm coming pack permanently, because I don't like breaking promises, and despite what Peter 'Amazing Spider-Man/SP Reboot Two' Parker says, the best promises _aren't_ ones you can't keep. I will say that I have a few stories that I've altered majorly (Acceptance is Surprisingly Easy, Alone, and Quiet Night [I pretty much rewrote that last one]) that I will post in the upcoming days. I also have a whole bunch of stories (Achy Breaky Heart, Ayyy Macarena, The Broadway Tree Chase, The Hanging Tree [which I'm only keeping up for the sake of the three people who've favorited/followed it], Triggers, and New Avengers) that I'm gonna post today/tomorrow. So yeah.**

 **Thirdly, I would like to offer a HUGE apology to people who have requested stories of me. I, uh...haven't really done overmuch with them. I THOUGHT I would be able to use them to help me claw my way out of writer's block, but...all I did was tell people I was gonna do something that I hoped I wouldn't put off like I have. Really sorry. I'm gonna leave them in my 'Requested Stories' draft folder, as I don't want to give up on them yet, but...y'know...don't hold your breath. Again, I'm really sorry about this.**

 **Without further ado, here are the stories!**

 **{Thus ends A/N posted on the update of Triggers.}**

 **So! *claps hands together* On the off chance that, like, nobody saw that...there ya go. Like I said, I'm not promising a comeback, I'm just gonna try to not neglect this site/my obligations/LITERALLY THE ONLY RESPONSIBILITY THAT I, AS AN UNSUPERVISED INDIVIDUAL, HAVE, and so here's a story that was sorta unofficially requested (AKA, someone suggested it, I said "Hey, what a great idea!", didn't write it for, like, a flippin' month, cobbled something together, went BACK and edited/added to it, and decided to post it cause I felt bad and why not?) that hopefully marks the beginning of a period of moderate activity, and wow, there were literally _so_ many typos in this add-on of the author's note, thank God for spellcheck.**

* * *

It was an honest accident. That was what it was, and that was the story he was sticking to.

Tony Stark had made a remark about his finish. Knock Out couldn't resist. It had been something along the lines of 'Shiny like a new penny,' and Knock had replied with "Shinier." Tony had done a double take and Knock Out realized he'd spoken aloud. Tony turned toward him fully now, and he winced inwardly.

"So...you must be Nikki's new pal," Tony said. "Tony Stark. What's your name?" The question was met with silence. Knock Out was sure he wasn't supposed to talk, not till Nikki had it all sorted out with the Captain and Director and this Council she talked about. "You can talk to me; it's okay. I'm sure you won't get in trouble, and if you do, I'll take the blame."

"Knock Out," he replied slowly.

"Aston Martin One-77, right?" Tony asked, admiring his wheel wells.

"Yes. Well, sort of a modified version," Knock Out answered.

"Sweet. Where'd you get the detailing? Local car shop, or did you do it yourself?" Tony asked, almost tracing the patterns before pulling back when he remembered it was an actual living being he was about to touch. Knock Out respected him for the restraint.

"A friend did it for me a long time ago, and I've made sure to keep it." Knock Out's spark still tightened at her memory. Tony nodded, obviously catching a tone in his voice Knock Out never intended to put there. "Why are you down here?"

"I was gonna go out for a drive," Tony answered. Knock Out suddenly saw a way out of the garage, even if he wasn't going to permanently leave, and his wheels itched to hit pavement. "Can't decide which car to take, though." Oh, it was definitely bait, and Knock Out rose to take it.

"Well, I'm sure all the other cars in here have pitiful engines compared to mine," he replied smoothly.

"I don't know...I've driven them, and they're all pretty good," Tony countered, pretending to be hesitant. Knock Out smirked. Well, if he could, he would be.

"You've never driven an Aston Martin before," Knock Out said. It was kind of a gamble, but he guessed that was what Stark was getting at. They both needed to be able to say that it wasn't intentional, should they be interrogated and reprimanded by Skylar.

"That's true," Tony agreed as he opened Knock Out's door and got in the driver's seat. Knock Out let him press the pedals, revving the engine. "Oh, this is gonna be fun."

"I agree," Knock Out replied. "So, should we play it safe and use the holodeck, or throw caution and sanity to the wind and go on real roads?"

"Probably holodeck, but only because if I get pulled over again, Pepper's gonna kill me, and Nikki will kill you," Tony answered. Knock hummed in agreement. "Jarvis, can you turn on the holodeck and program something fun?"

"How about the race you never got to finish?" Jarvis offered.

"Sounds good to me. Knock Out, how would you like a tour of a European city?" Tony asked.

"Sounds delightful," Knock Out answered. He revved his engine and took off through the garage and into the holodeck.

Nikki had gotten concerned when Knock Out was missing. Missing could equate to hiding somewhere in the garage. She only started to get worried about the skittish, vain ex-Decepticon when she checked every conceivable place one could hide in the huge space and still didn't find him. Thankfully, Jarvis saw/sensed her distress and chimed in with some helpful advice. "You might want to check the holodeck."

"Thanks, J," Nikki replied as she strode there. She opened the door at somehow exactly the right time to see Knock Out go flying past...with Tony in the driver's seat. Nikki smiled and shook her head.

They noticed her and Knock Out skid to a halt. He stopped so fast he actually fishtailed a 180 and put the two men facing her. Tony got out and Knock Out drove up very slowly and carefully. Tony wasn't even trying to hide his excitement, and Nikki thought he looked like a kid in a candy store. "I'm not sorry," Tony started. From all the little cues he was giving, she could tell he was prepping for a fight despite not honestly expecting one.

"Yeah, I didn't think so," Nikki replied. "Look, as long as you two don't get yourselves killed or break anything, I couldn't care less where and when you wanna race. Seriously, don't get yourselves killed."

"Yes ma'am," Knock Out affirmed. He opened his door and Tony climbed back in. They took off with a whoop. Nikki laughed.

"I'm not gonna do it," she said to herself. In response, a motorcycle appeared next to her. "Thanks for the support of my self-control."

"You're welcome," Jarvis replied, amusement clearly evident in his voice. Nikki chuckled, climbed on, put the helmet on, and drove after the other two. After all, she wasn't gonna back down from racing Tony. Ever.


End file.
